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This past Tuesday on my show, Write Stuff, I interviewed an author by the name of Erin Rainwater. The topic we discussed was perseverance. It was a fantastic discussion. One of the things she stated, when I asked her why Christians have such a hard time with this, was ‘we tend to walk by sight and not by faith’. After the show was over with, I had to think about what she said in deeper context to things that have happened in my life over the past few years.

I can remember when I lost my job four years ago. In that moment, I was rocked by the change in my circumstances – albeit, I was glad I’d never have to step foot in the building again – and wondered what was I going to do. I tried to work at my virtual assistant business I had on the side for a while but nothing came from it. I started to apply for jobs, but it seemed as if no one wanted me.

Another incident I can remember around this time was when my husband and I were searching for a house. We had put down an offer for a nice ranch nearby when I lost my job. Looking back, I was so thankful we did not get that house. I also got employment after six months of searching. Again, we went house hunting. We found the house we liked. Right before we put an offer down, my hubby lost his job. Yet, we continued to go through with the offer. It was much cheaper than the house we had originally chosen, and I made enough to make the payments. Two days before closing on the house, we were stonewalled. Due to some incorrect processing at the beginning of the loan application, we were told we were not eligible the loan we applied for. Talk about a heart break. It was right around Christmas too.

We ended up going with a new lender, and were able to get a shorter mortgage term and a ridiculously low interest rate. This led to a number of things that I’ve been appreciative over the last two years for. I live close to my grandmother, about ten minutes away. It wasn’t until later, when my grandmother became ill, I saw God’s hand in all this. He was setting things up for that time. My job allowed me to work from home for three week to take care of her. If I had gotten the first house, I would have been far away. My old employer would not have been as generous.

I told the rather lengthy story as a way to illustrate what her profound words meant to me. There were times when I walked by sight. My faith was not at an all time high at that point. I walked only by what I saw. Yet, I am so glad God takes care of His own even when we don’t trust Him to do that. I’m sure there were times during that period when Jesus must have said to me over and over, “Parker, ye of little faith. Why did you doubt?”

I think perseverance helps us to stretch our faith. We keep going even when we don’t understand. Perseverance tones up our prayer life while we wait. Our dependence on God gets stronger. We tend to look back and appreciate the struggles or obstacles we go through when we are out of them. It’s then we see the hand of God wrapped around ours. We persevere because God never left us. And He never will.